Huge boost for the arts as £3 MILLION goes to 31 groups across Suffolk
More than £3 million in new funding has been announced for arts in Suffolk.
Among those to receive a cash windfall are Newmarket's National Horseracing Museum, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, Gainsborough's House in Sudbury and the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket.
The Newmarket museum has secured just over £165,000 while the historic Theatre Royal has been allocated almost £120,000.
Gainsborough's House wins £121,000 while MEAL gets £165,000.
The £3,190,196 boost for 31 organisations across the county is from the second round of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.
Across the UK, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport announced this morning that more than 2,700 cultural and creative organisations are to receive a share of more than £400 million in grants and loans as part of a vital financial boost from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund. This includes more than £300 million, which has been awarded in grants through Arts Council England, Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute. A further £81 million has been offered by DCMS in tailor-made loans for cultural landmarks.
The awards in Suffolk will support theatres, galleries, performance groups, arts organisations and local venues supporting theatres, galleries, performance groups, arts organisations and local venues to reopen and recover.
The main awards in Suffolk have gone here:
£441,865 for Britten Pears Arts, a pioneering music, arts and heritage charity with two sites, including a world class concert hall, a unique and extensive archive and a museum and heritage property.
The music programme includes the Aldeburgh Festival and an international artist training and development programme.
The funding will help Britten Pears Arts prepare for socially distanced indoor and outdoor concerts, including a new opera by Bushra El Turk and training for musicians such as an online mentoring weekend.
Elserwhere, £35,511 will go to Out Loud Music, a not-for-profit CIC that programmes workshops and Rock Schools with the aim of improving young people's development through engagement with music.
Out Loud Music runs The Smokehouse, an intimate 88-capacity live music venue in the heart of Ipswich’s vibrant multicultural quarter.
‘The Smokehouse Presents’ showcases Ipswich as a viable gigging destination for established touring artists.
Funding will support the organisation to expand The Smokehouse's digital output and venue space, alongside developing projects such as Lock East and Smokehouse Presents.
Meanwhile, £31,618 has gone to the The Long Shop Museum which is an industrial museum dedicated to the history of Richard Garrett & Sons, who manufactured agricultural machinery, steam engines and trolleybuses in Leiston. The funding will support the maintenance of the live steam vehicles, building repairs and making the site more Covid compliant.
And £572,305 has been awarded to the Spa Pavilion, a seafront theatre and restaurant complex housed in an art deco building that has been attracting theatre goers and visitors for over one hundred years.
Funding from the Cultural Recovery Grant will support Spa Pavilion with an investment in a new range of shows for 2021, from writing to rehearsals, musical arrangements, scenery building and wardrobe creation.
The theatre also plans to reschedule community events where the venue is provided at a reduced or free hire cost.
Smaller awards have gone here:
Babergh total: £178,154
Gainsborough's House £121,164
Spillers Pantomimes Ltd £56,990
Mid Suffolk £292,105
Ginger Owl Productions (Events) Ltd £100,000
Museum of East Anglian Life £165,105
Wango`s £27,000
West Suffolk £532,518
Bury Bar Services operating as The Hunter Club £35,385
National Horseracing Museum £166,562
Noise Solution £41,890
Strawberries and Creem Festival £75,000
The Original Theatre Company £94,000
Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds £119,681
East Suffolk £1,612,262
1DegreeEast £26,000
Beccles Public Hall £35,000
Britten Pears Arts £441,865
East Anglia Transport Museum £25,000
Marina Theatre Trust £148,961
NEW CUT ARTS £93,730
Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum £11,546
Pro Corda Trust £30,500
Scenic Projects Limited £125,000
Southwold and Aldeburgh Theatre Ltd £35,737
Spa Pavilion Limited £572,305
Synergy Audio Ltd £35,000
The Long Shop Museum CIO £31,618
Ipswich £575,157
Alexander Whitley Dance Company £86,935
DanceEast £34,450
Eastern Angles Theatre Company Ltd £35,900
Gecko Theatre £161,650
New Wolsey Theatre Company Ltd £122,500
Out Loud Music CIC £35,511
Red Rose Chain £98,211
Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said: “Our record-breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they've ever faced.
Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors - helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead."
Hazel Edwards, South East Area Director at Arts Council England said: “Thanks to the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, we’re supporting a huge range of organisations that help make the arts and cultural scene so vibrant across our region. From Norwich to Felixstowe and from Cambridge to Colchester, this vital support will help theatres reopen, workshops will be delivered and communities will benefit. We’ve already seen how funding has helped previous recipients to survive an unprecedented year and as the sector looks to reopen this further support will help arts organisations take the next step.”
Angela Leonard, Chair of Trustees at The Long Shop Museum said: "This is the best start to our delayed 2021 season that we could possibly have hoped for. It’s so much more than money, it’s confidence! These strange and difficult circumstances present us with a challenging future. The grant means that we can face this with optimism instead of trepidation. The bid, entitled ‘Back to Life’, will allow the Long Shop Museum to transition from its long hibernation back to the vibrant celebration of the innovation and industry of the Garrett family, and of the people of the Leiston area who helped to forge Garrett’s success.
"We are enormously grateful to Arts Council England for this grant, and for all of the support and assistance that they offer to the heritage sector. Thank you for helping to bring the Long Shop Museum back to life!"
Roger Wright, CEO, Britten Pears Arts said: "As we continue to grapple with the impact of COVID, we are enormously grateful for ongoing support from Arts Council England, DCMS and HM Treasury. This will enable our internationally recognised and locally relevant work to carry on supporting musicians and others in the creative sector, communities with whom we work and our audiences.”
Ray Anderson, Director, Spa Pavilion said: “We’re delighted to have been thought worthy of further support by the Arts Council for what we all hope will be the last few months of the pandemic. This latest grant will be vital as we once again prepare to re-open and put on our wide variety of shows in Felixstowe. It guarantees that we can look forward with confidence to what will undoubtedly be a challenging period, and we thank both the Arts Council and all of our loyal customers and ticketholders from the bottom of our hearts for their support through these most demanding and unusual of times.”
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